Remember Me
by Emerson Quinn
Summary: An introspective piece from Vader's POV. Set during ROTJ.


**REMEMBER ME**

_When the dark wood fell before me  
And all the paths were overgrown_

The fear clouded my mind, making rational thought impossible. The only  
thing that was clear in the turbulent haze was one image: Padme.

I had to save her. I needed to save her. I could save her.

All it would take was surrender. A sweet, silent sinking into the  
darkness that already had its tenuous hold on me. It whispered to me  
like a lover. There was no other path.

_When the priests of pride say there is no other way  
I tilled the sorrows of stone_

The man I had for so long thought of as a father goaded me, tempted me.  
Found my weakness and used it for his own malicious intent. The Jedi  
betrayed you, this man said, It's them or Padme. That was it, then.  
There could be no other way. Something roiled in my heart….it could  
have been a moment of sorrow, or regret. But I cast it to the wind, my  
heart turned to stone.

_Then the mountain rose before me  
By the deep well of desire_

Now only one thing in my mind. Something I'd said to her, once. I  
will even learn to stop people from dying. This is my one desire. A  
desire so deep that everything else I'd believed in or held sacred  
has fallen into the abyss created by it. I will not fail her.

_From the fountain of forgiveness  
Beyond the ice and the fire_

And now here she is, pleading with me….begging me to go away with  
her. She knows what I've done, but she's forgiven me. Come away  
with me, help me raise our child…But it is too late. Out of the  
cold, darkness of space onto this fiery hell of a planet, I have come to  
finish what I've started…to make a new galaxy, a united galaxy.  
She and I will rule. I am amused by the poetic irony of this  
place….I feel as if I am being baptized by fire.

_I did not believe because I could not see  
Though you came to me in the night_

And now, here you are. All these years later. I'd thought I'd  
lost you, that night on Mustafar. I did not believe you would come, my  
son, but I felt your presence moving toward me like the bursting of a  
new star. Coming to me in this soft night, on a planet as full of green  
as Tatooine is of sand. It must be as wondrous a place to you as it  
would have been to me….all this green. Yes, here you are, coming to  
me in the night.

_When the dawn seemed forever lost  
You showed me your love in the light of the stars_

And I had thought it would have ended so differently. I no longer  
believed I had anything left inside of my soul…..I'd scourged it  
out so many years ago with hate and anger and filled it with my own  
black thoughts. But your light shone through again, Luke. Named for  
light. What a wise choice your mother made, when she gifted you with  
that moniker. She had believed, until the very end, that I could be  
saved. She did not forsake the dawn….and neither have you, son. Your  
love for me burned more fiercely than the light of the stars, humbling  
me with the intensity of it. How could I deny you the Father you called  
out for?

_Though we share this humble path alone  
How fragile is the heart_

So here we are now, together, at the end. The only two Jedi Knights left  
in the universe. Holding on to each other, afraid to let the other go,  
lest they fade away, as in a dream. But you are not a dream, you are my  
reality. My tired, sad heart feels, feels, for the first time in years,  
and I am afraid it will burst for all the emotion in it now. I cannot  
speak, I am overwhelmed.

_O give these clay feet wings to fly  
To touch the face of the stars_

Help me back to the light, Luke. Help me fulfill my destiny. I can see  
the hope in your pale blue eyes….so like my own. I cannot look at  
you, son….you are so eager to bring me home, to save me. You  
don't realize that you have saved me. I may be earth bound and  
dying, but my soul is already soaring toward the light of the stars.

_Breathe life into this feeble heart  
Lift this mortal veil of fear_

You have breathed new life into me, even for only this short time. My  
hate, hidden so long under a veil of thinly controlled anger, is lifting  
from me, fading away like the ghosts of my past. I am no longer afraid.

_Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears  
We'll rise above these earthly cares_

I have such hope for you, my son. I know the Force will always guide  
you, keeping you in the light. I may have been the Chosen One, but you  
have brought balance to my life. My spirit will rise above these earthy  
cares, and I will watch you become a greater Jedi than I could have ever  
hoped to have been.

_Cast you eyes on the ocean, cast your soul on the sea  
When the dark night seems endless  
Please remember me_

Remember, my son….I will always be a part of you. I will always  
watch over you with pride, and I will always love you. And when your  
troubles and misgivings threaten to drag you down into a black  
despair….remember me. Remember me.


End file.
